It has been well demonstrated that copper is involved in the development and progression of many diseases, including Menkes disease, Wilson's disease, neurodegenerative diseases, anemia, heart disease, and cancer. Furthermore, copper is a well-known metal cofactor in many enzymes and is necessary for proper cellular function.
A number of copper-sensing agents are known. Zeng, L.; Miller, E. W.; Pralle, A.; Isacoff, E. Y.; Chang, C. J. “A Selective Turn-On Fluorescent Sensor for Imaging Copper in Living Cells”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2006, 128, 10-11. Miller, E. W.; Zeng, L.; Domaille, D. W.; Chang, C. J. “Preparation and Use of Coppersensor-1, a Synthetic Fluorophore for Live-Cell Copper Imaging”, Nature Protocols, 2006, 1, 824-827. Domaille, D. W.; Zeng, L.; Chang, C. J. “Visualizing Ascorbate-Triggered Release of Labile Copper within Living Cells using a Ratiometric Fluorescent Sensor”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2010, 132, 1194-1195. Riefke, B.; Licha, K.; Semmler, W.; Nolte, D.; Ebert, B.; Rinneberg, H., In vivo characterization of cyanine dyes as contrast agents for near-infrared imaging, Proceedings of SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering (1996), 2927 (Optical and Imaging Techniques for Biomonitoring II), 199-208; Rajopadhye, Milind; Groves, Kevin. “Biocompatible cyanine fluorescent imaging agents and method of in vivo optical imaging”, WO 2007028163 A1; Peterson, Jeffrey D.; Rajopadhye, Milind. “Viable near-infrared fluorochrome labeled cells, methods of making labeled cells and in vivo imaging methods for tracking, locating or detg. quantity of viable cells”, WO 2008109832 A2; Kojima, H, “Development of near-infrared fluorescent probes for in vivo imaging”, Yakugaku Zasshi, 2008, 128(11): 1653-1663.
There is a great demand for systems that can be used to detect and study copper in both cells, and more importantly, living organisms.